Munro Sugar

IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY : A FARMER’S PERSPECTIVE: 

IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY : A FARMER’S PERSPECTIVE ALAN MUNRO – Sugar Producer SUGAR Maintaining Competitiveness

Our Farm: 

Our Farm Clarence River Floodplain, NSW Family partnership 148 ha cane farm 12,000 tonnes annually Small beef cattle operation Manage a further 95 ha cane land

Improving Productivity: 

Improving Productivity Areas requiring attention remain unchanged Significant change in techniques used 1970s to early 1980s - focus on production 2007 - focus on profitability, people and environment Balance is easy if the operation is profitable

Improving Productivity: Our options: 

Improving Productivity: Our options Increase production from existing caneland Expand production area Effective until late 1990s Land prices vs farming returns - not in sync Competitive advantage decreased Efficient production no longer guarantees a good income

Improving Productivity: Our options: 

Improving Productivity: Our options Introduce other enterprises Need demand driven production Supplying higher value markets Value add to existing enterprises Introduce other enterprises Easy to say, difficult to implement Munro’s Magic Mulch ? Murky Fish Farm ? Sugar Cane Skirmish ?

Factors Affecting Productivity: 

Factors Affecting Productivity Low cost management practices Drainage Field preparation Variety selection Weed control Fertilizer strategies Harvesting Management and timeliness Benchmarking study Need to increase CCS

Factors Affecting Productivity: 

Factors Affecting Productivity Sugarcane smut disease Harvesting Harvesting co-operatives Fixed versus differential rates Opportunities to reduce losses Loss of input into harvester design Harvester and in-field transport modification for co-generation

A New Farming System: 

A New Farming System Conventional system 1.5m row spacing Flat planted and cultivated plant cane phase Mix of ratoon practices Require a more sustainable farming system (SYDJV, Co-generation) Controlled traffic 1.8m spacing - dual rows GPS/autosteer in 2006 Visibility when “whole crop” harvesting Outcome - reduced compaction

A New Farming System: 

A New Farming System Direct drill Double-disc opener cane planter Direct drill cane into soybean stubble Zero tillage ratoons Maintains improved soil structure Opportunity for better weed control

A New Farming System: 

A New Farming System Higher yields in next cane cycle Reduction in tillage operations $ return from the grain crop Reduced N input for cane after soybean Crop rotation incorporating legumes Our economic analysis shows we need Proven benefits Implications for lost cane production

A New Farming System: 

Raised beds Drainage needed on alluvial floodplains of NSW Small beds improve drainage in the lower country Improved timeliness of operations Improved yields Force controlled traffic on haul-out operators A New Farming System

Adoption: 

Adoption Aim for 50% of NSW cane area to be under the system by 2010 Resistance to change

Adoption: 

Adoption It’s not easy! Senior partner first day of zero till cane planting: “That’s the roughest days work I’ve done since I started farming” On other days: “That’s a big enough trial, lets just hoe the rest of the paddock and plant it like we used to”

Adoption: 

Focus on the benefits System packaging desirable Easy decisions in the past Increasingly complex today Decision making tools available Adoption

Where to now?: 

Productive low cost sustainable cane growing system Well positioned for co-generation Flexibility in the system Past productivity gains from improved management Future productivity gains from “left field” Where to now?